Copper River king salmon changes

At the Prince William Sound / Upper Copper River Board of Fisheries meeting in Cordova, the Alaska Board of Fisheries adopted some changes aimed at ensuring more early returning king salmon are allowed to migrate past the commercial drift gillnet fleet near the Copper River terminus and also are allowed to migrate upstream through the personal use fishery. In consideration of Proposal 51, submitted by the Wrangell -St. Elias National Park Service the Board, which would have restricted only the drift gillnet fleet, the board instead adopted substitute language found in RC122.

The substitute language delays the start of commercial fishing in the Copper River District until after May 21 (eliminating two periods), but also adds some conservation burden to the personal use fishery at Chitina. King salmon may not be harvested in the personal use fishery until after June 30, and the personal use fishery may now start 3 days later on June 10 (if adequate numbers of salmon have passed the sonar counter downstream at Miles Lake).

After the meeting I talked with Chuck Derrick, President of the Chitina Dipnetters Association, who was somewhat taken back by the potential loss of 21 days of king salmon harvest opportunity for dip netters. At the same time Chuck mentioned that at the Cordova meeting he felt that was about the best opportunity dip netters could get in light of the effort to allow adequate king salmon upstream for spawning purposes and also for subsistence and sport users.

Derrick, Rod Arno with Alaska Outdoor Council, and Jim Simon advocating for upriver subsistence use at the meeting were all hopeful that the new regulations may better facilitate meeting of the Copper River drainage king salmon spawning escapement goal, and may provide a more consistent season of harvest opportunity (without inseason restriction or closure) for all upriver user groups. How aggressively the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) fishes the Copper River District commercial drift gillnet fishery in May and early June may also be a factor in how effective the later season start dates are in moving king salmon past the commercial fishery, upstream sonar, and further upstream dip net fishery.

While ADF&G has developed both daily and cumulative salmon sonar counting objectives from mid-May through July, not a single one of those objectives had been achieved during the past 4 seasons (2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024). King salmon run timing is a bit earlier than sockeye run timing, so likely the highest king salmon savings with lesser lost sockeye harvest opportunity would occur from adjusting the season starting dates a bit later.

In 2024, I believe the Copper River drainage may have been the only freshwater location along the Upper Cook Inlet / Interior Alaska road system where sport king salmon harvest targeting wild king salmon was allowed, after May 1, and before it was prohibited by emergency order starting on June 24. Hopefully, a healthier salmon return, along with the new regulations may facilitate a longer season of wild king salmon harvest opportunity for at least this one wild stock of king salmon on the interior Alaska road system during 2025.

Fish On!